March 1, 2005

Stanford, Calif. -

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No. 7 Stanford (7-9/6-7) vs. No. 9 CSUN (0-12/0-11)

7:00 PM (PT), March 4 - Northridge, CA

No. 7 Stanford (7-9/6-7) vs. No. 5 UC Santa Barbara (9-5/7-4)

7:05 PM (PT), March 5 - Santa Barbara, CA

THIS WEEK: The Cardinal gains momentum as Stanford travels to Southern California for a pair of MPSF matches on consecutive days. Stanford faces Cal State Northridge for the third time in 2005, looking for its first win against the Matadors. In the second match Stanford looks get even with the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, after a heartbreaking five-game defeat in January.

STANFORD IN THE POLLS: The Cardinal, off to a 7-9 start overall with a 6-7 record in MPSF play rose from No. 9 to No. 7 in the latest USA Today/AVCA poll.

LAST WEEK: Stanford notched a 3-1 victory over UCSD Thursday night at Burnham Pavilion. Stanford hit .488 as a team led by Kevin Hansen's 56 assists, and solid performances by Ben Reddy and Chris Ahlfeldt with 18 and 17 kills respectively. In Saturday's match No. 9 Stanford gave the home crowd of 602 fans a show as they upset the No. 5 ranked Long Beach State 49ers 3-0 to jump to 7-9 (6-7 MPSF). Statistically Stanford hit .434 for the match while holding Long Beach to a .260 hitting percentage. Hansen spread his 46 assists evenly between Reddy (13 kills), Craig Buell (13 kills), and Ahlfeldt (12 kills).

SCOUTING THE MATADORS: The Matadors feature a balanced attack led by Brian Waite (184 kill, .419 hitting percentage) and Nils Nielsen (151 kills, 1.63 digs per game). The Matadors have won the previous two meetings with the Cardinal, both 3-1.

SCOUTING THE GAUCHOS: Sophomore opposite hitter Evan Patak paces the Gaucho attack registering 5.95 kills per game. Defensively, senior libero Aaron Mansfield posts 148 digs. The Gauchos are currently on a four-game winning streak with victories over UCSD, USC, Cal State Northridge, and Long Beach State.

THE 4,000 CLUB: Fifth-year senior setter Kevin Hansen now sits fourth on Stanford's list of career leaders in assists with 4,545. Hansen is a three-time All-MPSF selection and was named a third team All-American following the 2004 season. Hansen's 12.84 assists per game ranks ninth all-time among Stanford setters.